Leicester lessons give Shrewsbury FA Cup hope, says Sam Ricketts
Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts is plotting to take advantage of Wolves’ frailties – by examining how Leicester and other top-flight sides have caused damage.
Town are tasked with upsetting the odds with 54 places separating the teams in the league pyramid.
In their first season back in the Premier League, Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves have caught the eye and sit eighth, with nine wins from their first 23 games.
Wolves have kept just one clean sheet in 16 games, but overcame three Leicester goals to edge a thriller on Saturday and Ricketts will use footage from recent games to help find a way his League One side can chink their visitors’ armour.
“Leicester were unfortunate,” said Ricketts, who played for Wolves between 2013 and 2015. “I will watch the whole game and I’ll go back and watch games against other teams who have caused Wolves problems to see how they’ve done it. I’ve got a pretty good idea of how they did it.
“Every team has their frailties, nobody is unbeatable, it just gets harder the bigger team you’re playing.”
Town made a mockery of the standings in the last round as they staged an improbable fightback from 2-0 down in the final 20 minutes at Championship Stoke.
“(The message from Stoke) certainly goes into every game,” the Town boss continued. “These are a different type of player, different cycles of their careers. Every team has strengths and weaknesses.
“Wolves have obviously got a lot more strengths than weaknesses, but they’ve still got weaknesses
.”
Ricketts lines up against Nuno, who was this week slapped with an £8,000 fine for entering the pitch to celebrate his side’s last-minute winner against the Foxes. But the Portuguese boss will not face a touchline ban at Montgomery Waters Meadow.
“There aren’t many better feelings than winning in the last minute,” said Ricketts. “You wouldn’t catch me running down the line, that’s not me!”
